In the farming industry, ensuring adequate soil conditions are maintained during the planting process is significantly important for maximizing crop yields. For example, improper temperature conditions or insufficient water and/or oxygen supply could lead to seed germination failure, thereby resulting in decreased crop yields. As such, if soil properties at various depths are known, proper soil conditions can be maintained. Also, in the case of seeding or planting seeds, seeds can be placed at optimal germination and emergence depths.
To address such concerns, some conventional approaches includes the use of portable sensing devices which are manually inserted into the ground to measure soil properties at fixed locations. Drawbacks to such designs include poor sensor resolution, limited sensing capabilities, as well as inadequate downforces, which leads to insufficient seed-to-soil contact. To overcome limitations associated with portable sensing devices, other conventional approaches include the use of sensing devices that are capable of measuring the soil moisture at various soil locations. Particularly, the sensor measures the moisture content of the soil at its surface. Drawbacks to such approaches, however, include increased costs, as well poor sensor resolution. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a low cost and high resolution sensing device that overcomes the drawbacks of the above conventional systems.